David Duke (top left), David Roberson (bottom left) and Len Carragher (bottom right) who sat at the
negotiating table with the Commission for New Towns and delivered the golf club lease at a bargain price.
Nalda Binz (top right), the ladies captain at the time sent a letter of congratulations.
Opposite page: club professional Ian Connelly plays the dell hole on the cover of a programme as the ‘New
Course’ is officially opened with a pro-am in May, 1973.
49
The only real criticism concerned the new 14th hole. The tee was close to
the-then 13th green in the north-western corner of the property and played
as a dogleg, 360-yard par-four which required a short iron toward the dell
and another over that hollow to the current green.
It was described as a “joke hole” by legendary South African Gary Player
when he visited the club for an exhibition match against Nick Faldo in
1978. In the aftermath of his comments the hole was soon changed into a
par-three, now regarded as one of the best in Hertfordshire.
That alteration meant the loss of some yardage, but it was countered by
moving the sixth tee back by eight yards, the 13th by seven yards and the
17th by 37 yards.
“That meant the total length of the new course is 6,029 yards with a par of
70 (72 for the ladies) and Standard Scratch Scores of 69 (white), 68 (yellow)
and 72 (red),” confirmed Litster. “So, now in the 1970s we have a course of
just the length we were seeking for years.”
Following the opening of the new course in 1972 the club captain Don
Loader exhorted members “to face the immediate golf future with fortitude
in the knowledge of better things to come”. He was not wrong. In 1973 the
club hosted a celebratory official opening pro-am.
The 1970s were another period of sustained growth for the club, and that
continued into the 1980s. While Faldo raised the profile of Welwyn Garden
City on the world stage, much closer to home positive steps were being tak-
en by successive committees to consolidate the future of the club.
The first of those major developments came in the early 1980s when it
was decided the existing clubhouse was no longer fit for purpose and that it
should be knocked down and replaced.
In addition, Welwyn Garden City Golf Club had for some considerable
time harboured hopes of buying the freehold for the property from the
landowners, now the Commission for the New Towns, and an opportunity
to do so finally arose in 1988.
David Robertson, the captain, treasurer David ‘D.B.’ Duke and secretary
Len Carragher immediately entered a lengthy period of discussions with
Commission representatives. This was a truly formidable trio going into bat
on behalf of the club. Robertson was a senior detective in the Hertfordshire
police; Duke, a British Aerospace executive, was a quietly spoken Scot with
a razor-sharp intellect who had been the club’s youngest captain in 1967;
Carragher was a retired executive who resembled an affable major. Allied to
that affability was absolute authority.
50
Perhaps it is not surprising then that the Commission staff found them-
selves accepting an offer of £190,000, a full £60,000 below the asking
price. The club, in turn, agreed not to use the land for any purpose other
than golf for a period of 21 years from the date the transfer document was
signed.
One of the negotiating tactics used by club officials to reduce the price
of the freehold was to highlight potential problems with swallow holes.
This tactic resulted in a clause in the official transfer document being in-
serted which indemnified the Commission from any claims should swal-
low holes – referred to as underground cavities in the glacial gravel – dam-
age buildings or, for that matter, golfers.
The purchase of the freehold at what was seen as a bargain price de-
lighted members and heralded a new era of growth. It also resulted in a
heightened feeling of optimism within the club highlighted in a letter lady
captain Nalda Binz wrote to Robertson.
“At our committee meeting last night I reported that you had made an
announcement last Sunday, March 6, to the effect the club had paid a
deposit of £19,000 for the purchase of the freehold,” she wrote.
“On behalf of myself and the committee, I wish to pass on to you, sec-
retary Mr Len Carragher and the directors of the club our sincere congrat-
ulations for bringing these lengthy and protracted negotiations to such a
satisfactory conclusion.
“It was unanimously agreed that this is certainly a momentous occasion
for our club, and we are sure that future members will be forever grateful
that you and your committee had the foresight to go ahead with such an
adventurous scheme. Heartiest congratulations.”
The purchase of the freehold secured the future of the club and gave suc-
cessive committees and boards the confidence to embark on a series of am-
bitious capital expenditure projects designed to improve the golf course.
That process started the following winter when a series of bunkers were
installed around the third green, and another in the middle of the seventh
fairway. The tees on the second, fifth, 13th and 15th were also stripped
and levelled and a tree-planting programme was begun to replace the trees
lost or damaged in the gales of October 1987.
Welwyn Garden City’s original irrigation system was installed at the
time the course lay-out was changed in the early 1970s, but it was up-
graded in March 1988, and then augmented with the introduction of a
computerised injection system in the winter of 2009–10.
51
A new trap is built to enhance the 13th hole, pictured during winter construction. A 13-year bunker
improvement programme began in 2010.
52
The area is re-turfed before sand is introduced ready to catch errant tee shots. In addition to new bunkers the
project involved remodelling or removing the majority of the existing bunkers.
53
Welwyn’s signature 14th, the Dell Hole, which was converted to a classic par three after criticism by Gary
Player following his match with Nick Faldo
In the intervening years, the decision was taken to build a two-tier green
on the second hole to replace the previous one situated in the swale short
of the current putting surface. Work started in October 1991 and was com-
pleted early the following year. It was opened for limited play in early 1992
and was fully operational by that summer.
The new green was a massive improvement, but it did nothing to quell
growing concerns over the condition of the putting surfaces. High levels
of thatch under the surface made them unplayable for much of the winter.
That in turn led to course manager Trevor Smith calling for them to be dug
up and replaced by greens built to USGA specifications.
Not surprisingly, Smith’s proposal proved to be contentious, not just be-
cause of the cost involved and the disruption it would cause; there was also
a feeling among some sections of the membership that it was unnecessary,
and that the problems could be resolved simply by changing the existing
maintenance policy.
It was against this background that, in 1999, club officials agreed to em-
ploy independent experts to draw up detailed plans on how best to imple-
ment Smith’s proposal, and to provide funds for a trial USGA specification
green to be built to the left of the existing green on the 13th. The plan,
54
which would cost £500,000, was then communicated to members at a series
of presentation evenings held in the clubhouse between February 21 and
25, 2000.
The evenings did little to bring the two sides together. Indeed, they may
well have increased the divide and the matter was not resolved until more
than a month later when a stormy extraordinary general meeting, attended
by several hundred members, was held at Wheathampstead Village Hall.
The official notice announcing the EGM indicated there would be four
resolutions to be voted on that evening. The first of those was that: “The
club reconstructs greens three, seven and 10 to USGA standards in the
year 2001 and implements immediately a cultural programme to renovate
the remaining greens recommended as the alternative solution in Gordon
Jaaback’s report of January 2000.” The second indicated that the Board and
the captain’s committee were unanimous in recommending the following
resolution: “That the club embarks on a rebuilding programme of all greens
to be completed in the shortest possible time (excluding the 13th green).”
The further two resolutions concerned how the project was to be funded,
but they proved surplus to requirements after the first two motions were
defeated by a sizeable margin.
The rift took some time to heal. It also led to Smith’s resignation. He was
replaced by his deputy, the current course manager Brett Cox, who im-
mediately introduced a new greens maintenance policy, reducing watering
Sprinklers hydrate the elevated second hole green which opened for play in 1992. Previously the green was in
the swale short of the current putting surface.
55
The Fourth Course
56
and the use of chemical fertilisers and introducing a more rigorous aeration
programme.
Cox has gone on to oversee several other major capital expenditure pro-
jects designed to enhance the golf course and to protect it from the vagaries
of climate change.
In March 2007, the board invited a consortium comprising Ken Moodie
of Creative Designs and John Nicholson and Ken Brown, of John Nichol-
son Associates, to come up with proposals to enhance the playability of the
course, and they duly delivered their report in June that year.
Their remit was to make detailed recommendations for improving the
playing strategy of the course and in particular: (1) to address the impact
of club and ball technology on the way the course plays and to increase the
challenge for the better golfer; (2) to improve the condition of the bunkers
which were to be retained; (3) to maintain the aesthetic and playing interest
of the course following necessary tree removal; and (4) to consider whether
the third hole can be eliminated and another par-three incorporated else-
where on the course, such as in the area between holes 13 and 14.
The experts concluded that the plan to replace the third hole was a
non-starter. They stated in their report: “One lay-out concern that was
highlighted by the club representatives was the issue of the third hole. The
combination of the walk back to the third tee from the second green, the
poor aesthetics of the hole and the safety of the tee mainly in relation to
the fourth drive, but to some extent also the second drive, contribute to the
perception of this being a weak part of the lay-out.
“We have looked at ways of replacing this hole with another par-three
elsewhere on the course, but it seems to create other problems of a similar
magnitude. For instance, the suggestion to play the 13th hole to the pre-
vious green site, and to then integrate a par-three into the space created
between that and the 14th hole, would create a poor sequence of holes –
par-three, driveable par-four, par-three, par-three, followed by two short
par-fours. It would also completely unbalance the course since the par-five
10th hole would become the ninth to provide a back nine with a par of 33
and a front nine of 36.”
The club accepted the argument and in due course made full use of the
recommendations in the report when the bunker improvement programme
began. That started in the winter of 2010 when free-draining bunkers were
installed on both the third and the fifth holes, and, despite delays caused by
Covid-19, that programme is scheduled to be completed in 2023.
57
Welwyn Garden City’s course and scorecard 2023
58
13
14 12
15
16
7 8 11
Clubhouse
17
6
10
9
18
Halfway Hut
5
1
23
4
59
The programme involved the construction of new bunkers and the drain-
ing, remodelling or removing of the existing 64 bunkers on the golf course.
But even that paled into insignificance alongside the decision taken in 2013
to install a 10,000 cubic metre reservoir between the 13th and 14th holes at
a cost approaching £150,000, raised by a Bonds Capital Repayment Scheme
and a £50 levy on all playing members.
The decision to build the reservoir was made to counteract changing
weather patterns associated with climate change. In the years leading up to
2013 the club owned an extraction licence enabling it to pump water from a
bore hole, provided the water level in that bore hole did not fall below a cer-
tain level (19m 43cm). Unfortunately, on several occasions before 2013, the
water level did drop below that level, forcing the club to purchase expensive
mains water to irrigate its greens, tees and landing areas.
The course was particularly susceptible during periods when hosepipe
bans were imposed and no water was available, leaving the club totally reli-
ant on nature to protect its course.
“That was a very uncomfortable situation to be in and it got us thinking
about what we could do about it,” said Cox “The obvious answer was to
build a reservoir so we could store water for when we needed it, and it has
already proved to be a great investment.
“One of the experts we spoke to when we were putting our plans togeth-
er described building a reservoir as an insurance policy and that’s exactly
what it is. It protects the course from increasingly extreme weather pat-
terns, and I’d like to think it also guarantees it will still be here in another
100 years’ time.”
60
CHAPTER FIVE
The Nineteenth Hole
The lack of a clubhouse for the first five years of the club’s existence did
not prevent members of Welwyn Garden City Golf Club having the best
of times. There was more to life than mashies and niblicks and the club’s
golfers rapidly became part of the town’s social fabric.
With the perfectly positioned Waggoners pub at Ayot Green providing a
hallowed halfway house, The Cherry Tree, the town’s first and for many years
only licensed premises, was adopted for functions and post-match lunches.
Club events ranged from the sober to the not-so-sober. The first official
club gathering was in the sober category – a bridge and whist drive at The
Cherry Tree on April 28, 1923. The Pilot, the town’s privately-owned news-
paper, reported that a “select company” of 64 competed for “some very
handsome prizes presented by members – a pair of cut-glass decanters, a sil-
ver gong, a bronze monkey, a match-box holder, an ornamental candlestick,
a bead bag, an electric light shade and a cigarette cabinet”.
The prize-list reads like an early blueprint for the Generation Game, and in
his notes club historian Dick Litster explained: “Garden City residents were
then young, often newly wedded and such occasions provided an opportunity
for presenting unwanted wedding presents from people not likely to visit.”
During the summer, club get-togethers moved outdoors. The golf day on
August Bank Holiday 1923 was followed by a picnic at which “a substan-
tial tea was taken by members from trestle tables”, according to newspaper
reports. The tea party took place on an area adjacent to the current 12th
tee, climaxing a morning competition and afternoon driving, approach and
putting challenges. Members paid an entry fee of one shilling (5p) which
covered the cost of the tea. For the record, members Mogg and Mrs Leitch
won the driving competitions with distances of 221 and 110 yards – not
bad for hickory-shafted clubs.
61
The Cherry Tree (above) in the early 1920s was the club’s social centre
Below: members pictured in front of their first clubhouse in 1928
62
Above: members gather outside the nineteenth hole
in the 1950s
Left: Doris Litster, standing next to husband Dick,
hands over the key to Dick Reiss at the official
opening of the club’s pavilion in 1928
Below: the clubhouse in 1929 and the rebuilt
version of 1931 following a fire
63
Every event came under the gaze of the local press which, at this stage
of the town’s development, had limited options in its search for scoops.
The club’s ‘Smoking Concerts’ – which can be filed under the not-so-sober
category – drew particular interest. In this period, in this embryonic town,
the citizens made their own entertainment and club members doubled as
amateur musicians, singers and comedians.
The first Smoking Concert took place in early November 1923 when 150
members and friends packed The Cherry Tree. A “genial spirit prevailed,” it
was reported, as members provided entertainment in the form of sketches,
songs and monologues. Richard Wallhead, the Independent Labour MP for
Merthyr who lived in Welwyn Garden City and was a club member, received a
rave review for a rendition of A Yorkshireman in the Garden City. Paradoxically,
Wallhead was born in Romford and appears to have no links to Yorkshire. The
club’s gang of entertainers were, it was reported, in “magnificent voice”.
Local journalists from three newspapers arrived full of anticipation for
the 1925 Smoking Concert. More than 1,500 words of coverage appeared,
with one reporter gushing: “Some functions one attends doubting they are
worthwhile. At the Golf Social everyone knows that the common bond
of the ancient game will ensure an evening of pure relaxation and good
fun. This was abundantly proved by the crowd which filled the room at
The Cherry Tree last Friday night, when Mr Duncan Leitch, the captain
of the club, presided, assisted by an irrepressible committee who resembled
schoolboys set free on Guy Fawkes Night with all manner of wicked squibs
(small fireworks) and crackers let loose among unsuspecting company.”
The evening clearly went with a bang. Reports went on: “The chairman
first welcomed the splendid gathering of members and friends; and after a
brief speech asked Mr Arthur Blackborow to open the programme at the
piano. A charming combination of harmony was provided by Miss Peas-
good’s beautiful rendering of her song Love’s Coronation with cello obligato
soulfully rendered by Miss Joan Peasgood and piano accompaniment by
Professor Watts.”
It was not all highbrow. Leitch reduced the tone a notch or two with a
rendition of Drinking and Sandy Oglivie turned comedian, telling the au-
dience that he called very late at Leitch’s home and, not sure he was at the
right house, asked when Mrs Leitch answered the door: “Does Mr Leitch
live here?” To which she replied: “Yes, bring him in.”
Even AGMs were deemed an opportunity for a drink, a singsong and a
few jokes. In music hall tradition, much humour was aimed at the club’s
64
many Scots and their relationship with money. No doubt it was done in the
best possible taste and, reading between the thousands of lines written about
WGC Golf Club’s early years, camaraderie flourished in the fledgling club.
Golfing friends were having a ball.
The fact remained, though, that members lacked a home of their own. A
couple of storage sheds (adjacent to the current 16th green) were no substi-
tute for a proper nineteenth hole. Eventually the club’s landlords, the WGC
Company, agreed to invest £560 (£37,000 in today’s values) in a suitable
structure. The formal opening took place on April 7, 1928.
Positioned on today’s chipping and practice area at the rear of the first
tee, the building was constructed from elm weather boarding with a red-
tiled roof, providing a central clubroom with glazed doors opening on to a
veranda. There were men’s and ladies’ dressing rooms with lockers, a room
for the club professional and a refreshment bar.
Dick Litster, captain in 1928, presided over the opening ceremony and
his wife, Doris, handed over the key to Dick Reiss, whose speech underlined
his dual interests as golf club president and director of the WGC Company.
Reiss made the point that since the War many clubs had opened around
London at great expense and with large subscriptions. Here, they tried
to make subscriptions as low as possible. Reiss said he thought they had
achieved something that had not been equalled. “With a three-guinea sub-
scription (£220 today) the course is perhaps not equal to a 15-guinea one,”
he said. “But I do think it’s equal to an eight-guinea one.” Reiss’s comments
confirmed the importance of the golf club to the development of WGC.
But there was a problem. Whether it was the puritanical streak within the
Garden City movement or, as Litster suspected, the Company’s reluctance
to see money diverted from their own establishments, such as The Cherry
Tree, the golf club struggled to gain permission to serve alcohol.
With just £50 left over in the kitty from 1927, the club desperately need-
ed clubhouse bar profits to ease the financial squeeze. Eventually they were
granted a licence, but this stipulated that the maximum serving time was
four hours on each winter weekend day, and five hours on each summer
weekend day, with special hours on public holidays and match days.
Such protectionism caused problems – finances were stagnant at best and
if a cask of beer was not finished on a Sunday, it was undrinkable by the fol-
lowing Saturday. This meant all profits went gurgling down the drain along
with the stale ale. The addition of a clubhouse did have an impact: by the
end of 1928 membership had increased from 198 to 245. However, the new
65
The final version of the clubhouse
before its demolition in the early
1980s
Left: Captains Tom Balfour and
Hugh Anderson (right)
Below: hands-on members who built
the current clubhouse, Len Price, a
bricklayer, and captains Tony Cull
and Dick Skidmore
66
facility led to an increase in lease fees to £200 per annum (£6,700 today).
More difficulties were to come. Barely three years after the clubhouse was
opened, the club was back to square one. On March 19, 1931, the Welwyn
Times reported that WGC Golf Club’s clubhouse had been gutted by fire.
“The fire had got a secure hold of the wooden building and the fire bri-
gade was not able to do more than prevent it spreading into the men’s locker
room at the far end,” reported the paper. “The main clubroom, the kitchen,
the professional’s shop and the ladies’ locker room were destroyed. Many
of the lockers, of course, contained their owners’ clubs. Nothing was saved
except two easy chairs, a settee and two small tables.”
The Welwyn Times speculated that the fire had started in the kitchen and
told their readers that the club professional, Mr Perkins, was giving a mem-
ber a lesson in the valley some distance from the clubhouse as he watched
his stock go up in flames.
Good news followed the bad. An improved clubhouse emerged from the
ashes and opened at the end of June 1931, though it cost a third more than
the first. Externally it was a replica of the old building, but internally it was
much improved. Welwyn Builders – another WGC Company subsidiary –
even added a separate professional’s shop.
The Welwyn Times – also owned by the WGC Company – went into over-
drive, enthusing that one member had “paid for hot-water radiators and hot
water to all wash basins”. In addition, another member, Mr Alec Smith, had
polished the clubhouse floor to such effect that it “has become a temptation
to some members to forsake golf for dancing”.
Members of the ladies’ committee, the paper reported, “furnished the club
room with nice-looking and comfortable Lloyd Loom chairs and tea-tables
that do not suffer by comparison. The upper part of the walls and the ceiling
is now panelled with asbestos sheeting coloured in primrose and there are
gay curtains.” Now known to be a major health hazard, asbestos is con-
signed to history, as is the term ‘gay curtains’ in the world of interior design.
Over the following decades the clubhouse took on various iterations.
There was an upgrade in 1935, providing a men’s smoking room and com-
bined office and stockroom. The year’s deficit ticked up to £88, sparking a
stern warning from Sandy Ogilvie, captain of 1924. Ogilvie’s concerns were
not without foundation. Against a backdrop of the 1930s Depression, new
members were hard to find, current members resisted subscription increases
and any capital expenditure required support from the landlord, who in
turn would increase the rent.
67
There was a gap of 23 years before further clubhouse changes were made.
Under the New Towns Act of 1948, WGC Company assets were taken over
by the WGC Development Corporation. Offering a new lease as collateral,
the club could now borrow money from banks and negotiate interest-free
loans with breweries.
This freedom allowed investment in a bungalow in the early 1950s, providing
accommodation for a bar steward and stewardess. The logic was that a package
including accommodation would widen the recruitment opportunities beyond
the local area. Today it provides a regular rental income for the club.
An extension was made to the men’s locker room in 1958, costing £800.
Designed by Charles Fox, an architect and the club captain in 1947, the
building was three inches too low to accommodate the usual double bank
of rent-producing lockers. On the plus side, several larger lockers were built
to accommodate the growing fashion for bigger bags as the use of trolleys
increased.
Investment in a series of improvements was approved by members in
1963, and in 1966 captain Hugh Anderson reported that the step-by-step
project was complete. Costing £18,000, the frontage of the old building was
extended towards the 18th green to provide an entrance hall, a lounge and
billiard room. A separate building was erected on the far side of the club-
house for the professional’s shop – previously a shed – and the secretary’s
office, which had been in the main building.
Ten years later a changing-room block was added at a cost of £50,000. It
remains the men’s locker room today despite spectacularly falling foul of the
storms of 1990. The £50,000 investment of 1976 was the largest by the club
so far, but major change was on the horizon. The old clubhouse was falling
apart, and its days were numbered.
The roof was in such poor condition that some joked that
WGC was the world’s first golf club to have a water hazard
at the nineteenth hole. Buckets were positioned around the
clubhouse whenever it rained and the gag was adopted by
the broadcaster Terry Wogan, (left), who joked on his BBC
radio show that WGC Golf Club had spittoons in the bar.
The wet and the wit was too much for David Whalley, captain in 1978,
who instigated a pilot project to investigate options for a new clubhouse.
Dick Skidmore, a partner in a local building company, picked up the baton
and draft plans were presented to the captain’s committee in 1979. There
were rumours of heated discussions, but this was the captaincy year of the
68
Frank Casey (left) leads the music during his captain’s drive-in celebrations
erudite Scot Tom Balfour, who calmed troubled waters.
Skidmore and vice-captain Jim Frost presented plans at an EGM and the
scheme was approved 2–1 in favour. Members agreed to pay a debenture of
£54 a year for four years which would be paid back later.
The club was blessed with many skilled tradesmen and the club’s builders
united for the cause. Tony Cull, captain in 1981, was one of them and little
more than a year after building work began, he was raising a glass at the
structural opening.
Such was the support of members that the new clubhouse was almost a
DIY project. Skidmore, who played a leading role with his partner Peter
Lucas (captain in 1984), told the Welwyn Times: “We estimate that if we
had put the project in the hands of a builder it would have cost us over
£400,000. By contracting out with no profit and no overheads it has cost
somewhere in the region of £192,000.” The final cost was put at £220,000.
In the Welwyn Times article, Cull summed up: “Keeping up the standard
of dress in the old clubhouse was always a problem. How can you tell a
bloke to wear a collar and tie when he’s got water dripping down his neck?”
Those who knew him will not be surprised to see Cull capture the moment
in such a humorous way. His comment also reflected the club dress code at
that time – collar and tie were required after 7pm in the lounge bar.
The new clubhouse was officially opened on June 12, 1982, by Herts Golf
Union president William Fernie. Fittingly, club captain Dick Skidmore
69
presided over the ceremony with Dick Litster and Richard Reiss Jnr in at-
tendance.
Some members still remember with affection the slightly shambolic for-
mer clubhouse which started life in 1928, and it is true to say that the new
clubhouse has not been without its critics. Meanwhile, The Cherry Tree,
scene of such joy ten decades ago, has been swallowed up by the town’s
Waitrose. Other venues used over subsequent decades for club functions,
such as the Parkway Restaurant in the old Welwyn Department Stores
(John Lewis), and Welwyn’s Clock Restaurant, no longer exist.
In recent years the clubhouse has seen echoes of the 1920s Smoking Con-
certs with members displaying their musical talents. Norman Wiggins has
performed with one of his bands, and former club champion David Owler
revealed himself to be a scratch-level pianist in a 2022 summer gathering
on the terrace. On his captain’s drive-in day in 2021, Frank Casey provided
musical entertainment with his renowned Irish folk band which contains
musicians who have accompanied, amongst others, Sting.
In 2023, the clubhouse (below) will host the club’s centenary celebration.
In 2022, plans were unveiled for a major reconfiguration and refurbishment
of the 41-year-old building. It will not be the last. As in past decades, mem-
bers will come and go, and the clubhouse will host christenings, birthdays,
weddings and wakes. Welwyn Garden City Golf Club’s nineteenth hole will
remain a static structure that never stands still.
70
CHAPTER SIX
A Prodigy Arrives
Accompanied by his mother Joyce, Nick Faldo arrived at Welwyn Garden
City Golf Club for the first time in April 1971.
The teenager had watched television coverage of The Masters, in which
Charles Coody pipped Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller by two shots, and
intrigued by what he saw, was determined to find out more about the game.
It was a decision that would transform his life and ultimately result in
him becoming arguably the greatest golfer Great Britain and Europe has
produced.
“The Masters of 1971 was my very first encounter with golf,” Faldo con-
firmed. “I was 13 years old and saw the last two days on television. With
the Easter holidays just beginning, I told my parents that I wanted a go at
the game.
“None of us really knew how I should go about becoming a golfer,” he
continued, “so my mother said we should go up to the local club at Welwyn
Garden City and simply ask. She also said that in return for taking me along
I would have to get a haircut.”
The following morning Faldo went to the barber’s as instructed and then
on to the golf club where mother and son were greeted by assistant pro-
fessional Chris Arnold. He suggested the best way to get started was to
book half-a-dozen taster lessons before going to the expense of buying the
required equipment. It was sound advice, but also completely unnecessary
because the young Faldo was hooked from the start.
He had already shown considerable promise as a swimmer, cyclist and
athlete, and it soon became clear his sporting prowess extended to the royal
and ancient game. He returned on successive Saturdays for 30 minutes of
tuition from Arnold at a cost of 50 pence a time before the assistant relin-
quished his role and handed him over to head professional Ian Connelly.
71
The big match of 1973: Chris Allen and a 16-year-old Nick Faldo line up with captain Eddy Fogarty before
the club championship final which was won by Allen
Connelly, a Scot from Dundee, knew talent when he saw it and in Faldo
he saw something special. It was a player-coach relationship that was to
endure for 13 years.
“I remember not long after Nick started a group of us were chatting to Ian
in his shop when he said Nick would win The Open,” said serial Welwyn
Garden City men’s champion Chris Allen. “We all laughed when he said it,
but then we realised that he was serious. And of course he turned out to be
absolutely right.”
Allen was one of a talented group of golfers at the club in the early 1970s.
Connelly’s pupils included Trevor Powell, Bobby Mitchell, Bryan Lewis,
Peter Cherry and Colin and John Moorhouse. Powell, Mitchell and Lewis
were all also to turn professional while John Moorhouse would join Faldo as
his caddie on the European Tour.
Fifteen years older than Faldo, Allen was an experienced high-class am-
ateur who beat the prodigy in the first of three WGC club championship
finals between the two from 1973–75. “I also beat him in the first round
of the county championship at Sandy Lodge,” said Allen. “But long before
then I knew he was in a completely different league to me.
72
“He was such a good ball-striker. We could both hit shots close to the pin,
but his ball flight and strike was so much better. He appeared to be able to
do it at will, and he was so focused and so determined. Even as a youngster
all his mannerisms were professional.
“By the time I played him in the 1975 club championship final he was
streets ahead of me and he beat me 6&5. I have some fantastic memories of
playing with Nick and it was thrilling in later years to be in the galleries at
The Open and witness his progress.”
Allen considered Faldo’s prodigious work ethic as a major factor in his de-
velopment, and that was confirmed by Ian Fordyce, another talented WGC
youngster.
“He never stopped practising,” said Fordyce, the 1971 Hertfordshire
Boys’ champion. “He was out there so much that it was difficult for the rest
of us to get on to the practice ground. There wasn’t much room out there,
so it usually came down to who got there first. Invariably that was Nick. I’ve
never seen any player work as hard as him.”
Faldo was utterly obsessed with becoming a professional golfer. Supported
by his parents George and Joyce, he elected to leave Sir Frederic Osborn
School in June 1973, just short of his 16th birthday. “I totally lost interest
in school from the age of 15,” he remarked later. “I just couldn’t see any way
in which an algebraic equation would help my golf.”
He intensified his rigorous practice regime and his game developed to
such an extent that the following year he was named in the English Boys’
team for the Home Internationals at Royal Liverpool.
Chris Allen observes a drive from Faldo in the 1973 final. “Even as a youngster all his mannerisms were
professional,” said Allen of Faldo.
73
Photographs of the 1975 club championship final here
and opposite were taken by long-time member Terry
Densham. Faldo is pictured (right) with his great
supporter Clive Harkett. Below: a huge gallery watches
Faldo tee off on 13.
74
A Faldo iron shot is watched by Faldo’s friend and fellow member Ron Marks who employed the young
amateur as a carpet fitter in winter months
Faldo’s elegant finish (above) is
captured perfectly by Densham’s
photograph as he plays out of a
bunker on 10
Left: One more Faldo victory in
1975 is confirmed as Allen shakes
the hand of his opponent on the
13th green
75
It was not an auspicious debut, however, but he did enough to impress the
former Walker Cup player and captain Gerald Micklem, who sidled up to
him after the match and offered some words of encouragement.
Micklem also spoke to Michael Bonallack, the five-time British Amateur
champion, about watching Faldo for the first time. “Something tremendous
has happened,” he said. “I’ve just seen the best player I’ve seen for ages and
ages. He’s terrific.”
Despite the age difference between them, Faldo and Micklem struck up a
deep friendship that lasted until the latter’s death in 1988. It was a relation-
ship Faldo appreciates to this day.
“I always listened to Gerald because he presented things so well,” Faldo
told one of his biographers, Dale Concannon. “He spoke such good sense.
It was straight to the point. He never wasted words. He would tell me what
I had to do, or what had gone wrong, and then leave me to decide how to
cope with it. I can hear him now saying to me in that distinctive way he has,
‘I’ll leave you to work out what the best solution is for that’.
“I remember I threw my clubs down at Saunton Sands [after losing the
lead during the final round of the West of England Open] and he came up
to me later and said, ‘I’ve just got to chat to you. I didn’t like you throwing
down your clubs like that. I used to do it and you can see that it never got
me anywhere’. He didn’t say, ‘If I ever see you do that again I’ll …’ and I
appreciated that. I always knew he said what he did for a good reason.”
Another older person Faldo forged a strong relationship with was the 1975
WGC captain, Clive Harkett, a larger-than-life Welshman. In his 2004 au-
tobiography Life Swings, Faldo described Harkett as “a true gentleman who
fully appreciated that the juniors represented the future of the club. He was
tremendously supportive. We won the Herts County Junior Team Champi-
onship [in 1973 and 1974] with a team consisting of Trevor Powell and John
and Colin Moorhouse and suddenly the membership was proud of us.
“Under Clive, the Welwyn members became wonderfully helpful and even
created the Commemoration Jug tournament after my first Open Champi-
onship victory at Muirfield in 1987, but in the bad old days I think some of
them regarded me as a young upstart who should have been at home doing
my homework instead of cluttering up their precious golf course.”
Faldo raised funds for his forays into the amateur circuit by working
part-time during the winter for local businessman and WGC member Ron
Marks. A carpet fitter by trade, Marks paid Faldo to fetch and carry for him
which, at the same time, helped build up strength for the season ahead.
76
“Occasionally, when the weather was too atrocious even for me to venture
out on the course, I would offer my services to Ron Marks, a long-time
friend,” Faldo recalled in Life Swings. “It was hard work for two quid a day,
lugging van-loads of best Axminster up and down innumerable flights of
stairs, but eventually as I picked up the secrets of the craft, I was promoted
from human donkey to assistant fitter, laying the underlay, hammering in
the gripper rods, then cutting the carpet to fit.”
The support of individuals like Marks, Harkett and Micklem enabled Fal-
do to enter the 1975 season determined to make his mark on the national
amateur scene.
His campaign started slowly when he carded a disastrous 86 in the second
round of the Carris Trophy (English Boys’ Under 18 Stroke-Play Champi-
onship) at Moor Park. But he followed by winning the prestigious Berkshire
Trophy before adding another string to his bow when he beat seasoned
English international John Davies in the third round of the British Amateur
Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Davies, a member at Sunningdale, spoke glowingly to the assembled re-
porters about how well his young opponent had played that day. “What a
boy! What class! He has a great temperament. If I can find a chink in the
armour of anyone I play, I’ll always attack it. But there was nothing I could
do about him. He had no weaknesses.”
Faldo came back to earth the next day when he lost to the unheralded
David Moffat. It proved to be a momentary blip because during that golden
summer he was to become, just nine days after his 18th birthday, the young-
est winner of the English Amateur Championship. He also won the British
Youths’ Championship, the South African Stroke-Play Championship, the
Scrutton Jug, the Hertfordshire County Championship, the Hertfordshire
Boys’ Championship and, of course, the WGC club championship for the
second time.
Remarkably, the final of the English Amateur Championship at Royal
Lytham and St Anne’s could have been an all-Welwyn affair. While Faldo
plotted his way to the semi-finals in one half of the draw, his clubmate
Chris Allen had done the same in the other half. Sadly, it was not to be.
Faldo beat his roommate for the week, Philip Morley, but Allen’s run came
to end when he lost to David Eccleston. The following day Faldo thrashed
Eccleston 6&4.
It was a result lauded in the newspapers. “It would be a surprise if this
success was a sudden flash of glory because there is the distinct quality of
77
the unusual about Faldo,” wrote Pat Ward-Thomas in the Guardian. “The
exceptional strength of his wood and iron play would stand favourably in
any company and is achieved with less effort than I have seen in any young
golfer for many years. This plainly is a natural gift. For a boy, his approach
to the game is uncommonly mature.”
Faldo’s run of success prompted Sunday Times journalist Dudley Doust to
write: “Few could have made a more mercurial rise than Faldo has done,”
but it also left him in something of a quandary about what to do next.
The options were either to turn professional or retain his amateur status.
Initially he opted for the latter by enrolling on a golf scholarship at the Uni-
versity of Houston alongside the Scot Sandy Lyle and fellow Englishman
Martin Poxon, before changing his mind and returning home a few months
later. It was a decision heavily criticised in some sections of the media, not
least by the American Doust, but Faldo himself was comfortable with it.
“There was simply too much studying,” he said. “I was missing the usual
practice sessions I had at home. I was used to hitting six hundred practice
shots a day. I had been doing that for three years and now I was being asked
to break my routine. It naturally led to a deterioration in my game.”
Faldo packed his bags and left Houston in March 1976. The following
month he played his last event as an amateur in the King George V Trophy
at Craigmillar Park in Edinburgh where he rattled off rounds of 68, 70, 76
and 68 to claim an impressive four-shot victory over Scottish international
George Macgregor.
The next day, on April 14, three months shy of his 19th birthday, and
after consulting his mentor, Connelly, and his parents, he decided to relin-
quish his amateur status.
“I felt as though everybody was expecting me to win in Scotland,” he said.
“And as that would have made it much harder, if not impossible, to be as
successful as the previous year, I decided to turn professional.”
The time had come to move into the big league.
78
Nick Faldo’s 1975 Major Achievements
English Amateur Championship
South African Amateur Strokeplay Championship
British Youths Championship
Berkshire Trophy
Scrutton Cup
Champion of Champions Trophy
Hertfordshire County Championship
Hertfordshire Junior County Championship
Royston Junior Boys’ Championship
Tied First for King George V Coronation Cup
Welwyn Garden City Golf Club Championship
Faldo was selected for: England and British Youths sides;
England in Home International Series; British Commonwealth Trophy side.
In his golden year of ’75 Faldo holds the English Amateur Championship trophy with parents
George and Joyce in a picture published in the Welwyn Times
79
Changing times at The Clock
Four days before Christmas in 1975, Nick Faldo’s remarkable leap into amateur
golf ’s elite group was celebrated with a dinner at Welwyn’s Clock Restaurant.
With a ticket price of £3.75, guests were served a seasonal meal of minestrone
soup; roast Norfolk turkey, stuffing, chipolata sausage, roast and cream potatoes,
garden peas, Brussels sprouts; Christmas pudding and rum sauce; mince pies;
cheese and biscuits and coffee.
The presidents of the English Golf Union and Herts Golf Union proposed a toast
to Faldo who responded with a speech. Club captain Clive Harkett proposed a
toast to the guests and Alex Hay, professional at Ashridge Golf Club, replied on
behalf of guests.
Just as life for Faldo was on the cusp of great change, Hay too was to become a
national figure - and he was to see a lot more of the young man sitting with him
at the top table. In 1978 Hay joined the BBC as a commentator, combining the
role with positions as professional and managing director at Woburn. With his
natural warmth and soft Scottish accent, he formed a compelling partnership
with Peter Alliss, describing to the nation some of Faldo’s greatest triumphs. Hay
retired from commentary in 2004 and died aged 78 in 2011. In his obituary,
the Daily Telegraph described Hay as the Ernie Wise to Alliss’s Eric Morcambe.
The Clock Restaurant, a regular venue for WGC Golf Club dinner dances, closed
in 2009. Sitting on a site adjacent to the A1M which is now occupied by apart-
ments, the building was destroyed by fire in 2010, ending hopes of it reopening
as a restaurant and hotel. Unfortunately, the £3.75 Christmas dinner is also a
thing of the past.
80
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ascent to Glory
Nick Faldo was one of amateur golf ’s hottest properties before he turned
professional in April 1976, so it was no surprise that he took little time to
make his mark in the paid ranks.
Armed with a £1,000 cheque generously donated by members of Wel-
wyn Garden City Golf Club, he finished tied 38th on his European Tour
debut in the French Open at Le Touquet. There followed another strong
performance in the German Open plus a share of 28th place alongside Gary
Player, Doug Sanders and Neil Coles in The Open Championship at Royal
Birkdale. The 19-year-old rookie finished the season in 58th place on the
Tour’s money list with earnings totalling £2,339, which secured full playing
privileges for the 1977 season.
After a winter working hard with coach Ian Connelly, he began his first
full season on the European Tour with a tie for third place in the Madrid
Open and a share of sixth place in the Colgate PGA Championship at Royal
St George’s.
Faldo also reached the fifth round of the Sun Alliance Match-Play before
bowing out to Brian Huggett. He then led the Uniroyal Championship at
Moor Park after two rounds only to suffer the heartache of losing to Seve
Ballesteros in a play-off.
That reversal was hard to take, not least because it happened in Hertford-
shire in front of his home fans. But by now it seemed only a matter of time be-
fore Faldo notched his first victory as a professional and the landmark duly ar-
rived at the Skol Lager Invitational at Gleneagles, a 36-hole stroke-play event,
played ahead of the Double Diamond Invitational. He carded rounds of 67
and 71 and then beat Craig Defoy and Chris Witcher in another play-off.
That was the first of 43 victories Faldo clocked up around the world over
the next two decades and was instrumental in helping him become the
81
An early image of Nick Faldo as he enters the world of professional golf with his fellow Welwyn Garden City
member John Moorhouse who carried his bag in the first phase of his career
82
Faldo made an instant impact on his Ryder Cup debut in 1977 by claiming the scalp of Tom Watson who
had won the second of his five Open Championships a few months earlier
youngest player to represent Great Britain & Ireland in the Ryder Cup.
His appearance, in the 1977 edition at Royal Lytham & St Annes, began
when he teamed up with Peter Oosterhuis to record a 2&1 victory over
Ray Floyd and Lou Graham in the foursomes before the same English
pairing claimed another point with a 3&1 win over Floyd and Jack Nick-
laus in the fourballs.
Faldo’s dream Ryder Cup debut was completed the following day with a
one-hole singles victory over reigning Masters and Open champion Tom
Watson. It was the first of 11 appearances (plus one as captain) he made in
the biennial contest during which he set records for most matches played
(46), most matches won (23) and most points secured (25).
The Ryder Cup was barely over when Faldo claimed his second title of the
season in the Laurent Perrier Trophy in Belgium, where he beat Ballesteros
and Billy Casper as part of an exclusive eight-man field.
“Faldo has the class to rule Europe for years,” Michael McDonnell, the
Daily Mail’s respected golf correspondent wrote at the time. “His display
was not only thrilling but also showed clear evidence that he is the stuff of
champions.”
83
Casper, a three-time major champion, agreed. “Nick has more talent than
anyone I have seen out of Britain,” he said. “He gets a bit hot when he miss-
es a shot, but that’s youth.”
Faldo went on to claim eighth place on the European Tour Order of Merit
at the end of the 1977 season and was named the Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year.
The following year he won his first 72-hole stroke-play event at the Col-
gate PGA Championship at Royal Birkdale. Between 1979 and 1983 he
rattled off further victories at the ICL Tournament (South Africa), the Sun
Alliance PGA Championship (twice), the Haig Whisky Tournament Players
Championship, the Paco Rabanne French Open, the Martini International,
the Lawrence Batley International and the Ebel Swiss Open.
Faldo headed the European Tour Order of Merit for the first time in 1983
with five wins in 16 starts, and in 1984 claimed the Car Care Plan Interna-
tional on the European Tour and his first victory on the PGA Tour in the
Sea Pines Heritage Classic at Hilton Head. However, by that time he had
begun to harbour doubts about whether his swing was robust enough to
handle the pressure coming down the stretch in the biggest tournaments; he
vowed to do something about it.
Faldo had parted company with Connelly in 1982 and had worked briefly
with other coaches, including John Jacobs and Bob Torrance, but to no avail.
“They either wanted me to work on their ideas, which in some way or
other were different to what I thought was right, or suggested I should go
back to my old swing,” he reflected.
“On the surface, the solution was simple: ‘Work on that,’ they said, ‘and
you will learn to handle the big occasions in due course’.”
Faldo was unconvinced. Ultimately his solution was to team up with Da-
vid Leadbetter, who was born in England but had emigrated to Zimbabwe
with his family at the age of six.
Leadbetter was already coaching Denis Watson and Nick Price, and it was
while working with the latter at the Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City
in 1984 that he got together with Faldo for the first time.
“He asked me to have a look at him,” Leadbetter recalled. “I think Nick
Price had been speaking to him. Nothing was planned. It was more a case of
I was there, he was there. I think he had already spoken to Mark O’Meara
about his swing at that stage and maybe wanted a second opinion.
“I told him that his swing was too steep, that he needed to get his swing
a little more rounded, a little flatter. Something that would give him a little
84
An image of Faldo (top left) was painted by sport specialist artist Roger Harvey in 1978 to celebrate Faldo’s
first 72-hole event tournament victory, the Colgate PGA Championship at Birkdale
Top right: Faldo consoles Greg Norman after dismantling him in the final round of the Masters in 1996,
Faldo’s final major win
Below: Faldo stands next to captain Tony Jacklin as the European team of 1987 celebrates the continent’s
first Ryder Cup victory on American soil. Faldo took three-and-a-half points in the famous 15-13 victory at
Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
85
more control. I remember walking with him in a practice round at Augusta
in 1982 or 1983, and noticing that when he hit his tee shots, especially
into a slight breeze, how they seemed to balloon up. There was no run on
his shots, His goal at that stage was to win a major. He dearly wanted to
win The Open, but I thought the way he hits it high like that he is going
to struggle. So, my suggestion was to get the club going a little more round
him and we sort of left it like that.”
Faldo was clearly receptive to Leadbetter’s ideas, but it was only after sev-
eral more months in the doldrums the following year that the pair started
working together formally. “I had reached the stage when I knew I couldn’t
do it by myself, and of all the people I had talked to, Lead made the most
sense,” Faldo said.
However, it was no easy fix, and no quick one, either. The once domi-
nant Faldo endured uncomfortable, winless seasons in both 1985 and 1986,
when he was lambasted in the media for dismantling the swing that had
brought him his early successes. But all the heartache and hard work proved
worthwhile when he finally secured his first major title at The Open at
Muirfield in 1987
Faldo had always been clear that his career would be defined by the num-
ber of majors he won so it was understandable that he was close to tears on
the day after his 30th birthday. By firing 18 pars in his final round to pip
Paul Azinger by a single shot, he became the first English player to claim the
title since Tony Jacklin in 1969.
“I knew I’d do it. And I knew I had to do
it,” he said in the aftermath of that sensation-
al final round before reflecting on the frustra-
tions he had felt about how long it had taken
to fulfil his childhood dream.
“Sandy [Lyle] and Bernhard [Langer] had
gone ahead of me, there is no doubt about
that. But I always felt I was as good as they
were, and it was immensely frustrating not to
show it.”
Faldo was awarded an MBE after that tri-
umph and was named the BBC Sports Per-
sonality of the Year. But any thoughts that he
would rest on his laurels were dispelled over
Faldo with the coveted BBC Sports the following years.
Personality of the Year trophy in 1989
86
In 1988 he narrowly missed becoming the first Briton to hold both The
Open and the US Open titles simultaneously when he lost in a play-off
to Curtis Strange at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. But
he then went on a run in which he won back-to-back Masters in 1989
and 1990 and another Open Championship at St Andrews in the second
of those years. He won the Claret Jug for a third time, back at Muirfield,
two years later and The Masters for a third time in 1996 with the brutal
destruction of Greg Norman in the final round. Faldo memorably hugged
the vanquished Australian on the final green and said: “I don’t know what
to say. I just want to give you a hug.”
Faldo’s career haul of six major titles puts him twelfth equal on the list of
winners behind Jack Nicklaus (18), Tiger Woods (15), Walter Hagen (11),
Ben Hogan and Gary Player (both nine), Tom Walton (eight) and Harry
Vardon, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer (all
seven). It might have been more because he also claimed three runner-up
finishes and was placed in the top five on nine other occasions.
He was to record just one further victory: in the 1997 Nissan Open at the
Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Later that year he made one final Ry-
der Cup appearance at Valderrama, but two years later was declared surplus
to requirements by captain Mark James, thus ending a sequence stretching
back to 1977.
“I think Nick was a great benefit to the team two years ago, but he hasn’t
really done anything in the last couple of years,” was how James explained
his decision. “He’s been beaten and bettered by younger players. Maybe
the others aren’t in awe of him as they used to be and he’s no longer one up
standing on the first tee.”
It was not a decision met with universal approval. Colin Montgomerie
insisted that “an 80 per cent Nick Faldo would always be on my team”,
while, ahead of the announcement, Lee Westwood had signalled his support
for the Englishman by suggesting “a Ryder Cup without Nick Faldo would
mean a weaker European team”.
By that time Faldo had started to wind down his playing career and was
looking for other avenues to explore. One of the first was setting up the
eponymous annual Faldo Series for junior golfers, which nowadays provides
competition for around 5,000 boys and girls across Europe and the Far East.
“The idea first came to me when I was playing a practice round with
Robert Floyd [son of Raymond] in Florida and asked the lad about his
forthcoming plans,” he explained in Life Swings. “His diary was packed
87
with 72-hole events which set me wondering why there were so few similar
opportunities for juniors in Europe. The Swedes cottoned on to the im-
portance of helping youngsters years ago. Way back in 1982, the Swedish
association sent three of their junior players to study me at close range. They
shadowed me throughout practice for The Open at Royal Troon, watching
how I prepared for a major. With such foresight, is it any wonder that Swe-
den’s golfers have such global presence?
“I could have simply pumped in the money to set a Junior Series in mo-
tion and employed a team of teaching professionals and advisors to look
after the fledgling players, but that is not how I wanted to do things,” he
explained. “For a start, I enjoy my time with the youngsters, and I think it
is important to them that I am actively involved.”
Over the last couple of decades Faldo has also worked tirelessly to build
his golf course design business. Faldo Design’s portfolio now includes cours-
es on five continents and 20 different countries. Between 2004 and 2006 he
worked alongside former rival Paul Azinger and host Mike Tirico as a com-
mentator for ABC’s PGA Tour coverage. That broadcasting role broadened
considerably when, in October 2006, he replaced Lanny Wadkins as CBS’s
lead analyst. Subsequently, he became the analyst for the Golf Channel and
he has made frequent guest appearances on Sky Sports during their Open
Championship coverage and at other events.
In 2009 Faldo was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II in recogni-
tion of his service to golf. “I had
dreams as a young boy of being
a golfer and winning golf tour-
naments, but you don’t dream of
this,” he said at the time.
Faldo announced last year that
he would step down from his
broadcasting duties while still at
the top of that profession. Fit-
tingly his last appearance came
at The Wyndham Championship
(formerly the Greater Greensbo-
ro Open), the event where he
made his PGA Tour debut way
A young Rory McIlroy receives the under 15 Faldo Series back in 1979.
trophy from Faldo at Burhill in 2004
88
Faldo was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II at Windsor
Castle in November 2009.
In a US TV interview Faldo
said that when he was told he
was to be knighted his mind
flashed back to a time when
he would carry his clubs on
a self-made bike from his
home in Redwoods through
Sherrardspark Wood to WGC
Golf Club. He said: “My first
thought was ‘how did a kid
get from riding through the
woods on that contraption get
to become a knight?’”
89
“After much consideration and discussions late last year [2021] with my
business manager, and more privately with my wife, Lindsay, we together
concluded, and I decided, I would step down from Tower 18,” said Faldo.
“It was a great run since October 2006, when I was privileged to become
Lead Golf Analyst for CBS and to have the second best and highly coveted
seat in golf, sitting next to Jim Nantz.”
He has no plans to disappear completely from the golf scene while spend-
ing more time at his new home in rural Montana. It is still all systems go at
Faldo Design, the Faldo Series and for other new projects, he says.
The remarkable golfing journey, which began in 1971 when a local teen-
ager and his mother walked into the professional’s shop at Welwyn Garden
City Golf Club, is not over yet.
90
Sir Nick Faldo’s Major Titles
1987 Open Championship
Faldo’s decision to rebuild his
swing with help of David Lead-
better paid rich dividends when
he claimed his first major title at
the 1987 Open Championship
at Muirfield. He carded 18 suc-
cessive pars in a closing 71 to pip
Paul Azinger and Rodger Davis
by a single shot and claim the
£75,000 first prize on five under
par 279.
1989 Masters
It is never easy to win a major
and it certainly was not for Faldo
who was required to shoot a 65
in the final round and then beat
Scott Hoch in a play-off to win his
first Masters title. The American
missed a two-foot putt for victory
on the first extra hole before Faldo
holed a long putt on the next to
secure his first major on US soil.
1990 Masters
Faldo became the first man to
win successive Masters titles
since Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and
’66 when he beat Ray Floyd in
another play-off at Augusta.
WGC’s finest was three shots
behind his American rival with
a round to go but shot 69 be-
fore watching Floyd’s hopes of
becoming the oldest winner dis-
solve when he found water on
the second extra hole.
91
1990 Open Championship
It is sometimes said you cannot
be regarded as a truly great golf-
er until you win an Open at St
Andrews and that is what Faldo
achieved when he secured a five-
shot victory over Mark McNulty
over the Old Course. Faldo dis-
mantled fellow challenger and
playing partner Greg Norman
with a 65 in the second round be-
fore sealing his second Open title
with rounds of 67 and 71.
1992 Open Championship
Nick Faldo joined an exclusive club when
he won the 1992 Open at Muirfield for
a second time. Previously only Scotland’s
James Braid had won the Claret Jug
twice at the home of the Honourable
Company of Edinburgh Golfers but that
changed after Faldo took the lead with a
second round 64 and then added further
rounds of 69 and 73 to complete a single
shot victory over America’s John Cook.
1996 Masters
When Nick Faldo won his third
Green Jacket he said: “I hope
I’m remembered for shooting 67
on the last day and not for what
happened to Greg (Norman).” In
truth that was never likely to be
the case. The Australian was six
shots clear heading into the final
round but intense pressure from
Faldo resulted in his opponent
stumbling to a 78 and finishing
five shots adrift.
92
Home on the range
Sir Nick Faldo has made many visits to Welwyn Garden City Golf Club since he
hit the road as a professional touring the world in 1976.
Faldo ponders some course design There is a permanent reminder of his deep af-
changes in 1981 filiation to the club out on the course he still
thinks of as home. In 1981, Faldo met captain
Tony Cull, vice-captain Dick Skidmore and Jim
Frost, captain the previous year, to dip his toe
in the water as a course designer. The most dra-
matic change he instigated was a redesign of the
sixth hole. A relatively mundane and straight
par-five was transformed into an aesthetical-
ly-pleasing, sweeping challenge thanks to Fal-
do’s vision.
In an interview at the time of that visit, Faldo said: “Golf course design is big
in the States and something I mean to get involved in.” He did, and with great
effect: Faldo Design has since built courses in 20 countries on five continents.
Back at the club in 1987 sharing The Open trophy Faldo added in that interview:
with captain David Robertson and (below) the “I owe the club a lot and I have
children of long-time member Colin Burke (l to r) never forgotten what the people
Kelly, Scott and Ricky here did for me. Now I have the
chance to repay that generosity
by redesigning part of the course
to make it one of the best in the
South. I may not play a lot on the
course these days, but it is home
to me. Here is where it started 10
years ago, and I will give the club
all the support I can.”
Faldo was true to his word: on
Boxing Day 1987 he arrived at
the club with The Open trophy
he had won that summer. The
visit remains long in the mem-
ory of many members. “It was
a fantastic occasion,” said 2023
lady captain Marlene Duke. “I
first knew Nick as a seven-year-
old because I taught his mother
Joyce at the local college, so for
me it was quite incredible.”
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She added: “I’m not quite sure
how it happened, but The
Open trophy finished Boxing
Day night on my bedside cab-
inet. We had guests later that
day and someone must have
brought it along from the golf
club – I’m sure with Nick’s per-
mission! My husband David
and I gave it safe refuge for the
night.”
Faldo and his Master Class pupils of 1991 Faldo has been an enthusiastic
supporter of the Commemora-
tion Jug, the competition for
club champions staged annual-
ly by Welwyn to celebrate his
first Open victory. He made
several appearances at the tour-
nament in the early years and
his parents, George and Joyce,
later substituted when he
moved to the United States.
Marlene added: “Nick has also
made many unscheduled visits
to the club – just popping in to
say hello.”
Faldo hosted some of the best
Mike Wild, Nick Faldo and (right) Alan Astell young players in the country
celebrate the unveiling of the club’s tribute to the
player’s astonishingly successful career in 1991 when a Faldo Master
Class visited the club. A glance
at the photograph which hangs in the snooker room reveals that participants in-
cluded Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington. Faldo’s coach David Leadbetter
can also be spotted standing at the rear.
In 1992, Faldo officially unveiled the mahogany board which dominates the
clubhouse entrance, highlighting his career achievements. Alan Astell was the
captain that year and a predecessor, Mike Wild (1990), was one of the main insti-
gators of the tribute which provides the club with a permanent commemoration
to an incredible career.
There was a poignant return for Faldo and his family in September 2014 when
the life of his father George, who had died aged 88, was celebrated at a wake in
the clubhouse. On that occasion he took his children to the practice range to
show them the spot where he had hit countless thousands of balls as he honed a
swing good enough to take on the world.
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Surrounded by Commemoration Jug volunteers in 1992, Faldo is pictured with (clockwise
l to r) Cathy Shand, Barry Didcock, Ray Izzard, Ron, Millar, Barbara Millar, Diana Lang,
Marion Andrews, Helen Tovey, June McClosky and Marlene Duke and (below) in front of the
scoreboard with parents George and Joyce
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Veteran member Terry Densham in the professional’s shop with Faldo and former club pro
Stuart Mason in 2014
In 2021 Faldo brought one of his Faldo Series events for young golfers to Wel-
wyn, with more than 90 girls playing over two days. He took part in a television
interview, met many of the participants and gave his new wife Lindsay de Marco
a tour of the golf club.
The couple moved to their farm in Montana in 2022, and a quote from an in-
terview more than four decades ago may bring a wry smile to Faldo’s face. He
told journalist Bob Bryant in 1981: “I want to continue playing here in England
because this is my home. No way will I move to the States. I can fit the golf in
just as well by commuting by jet.”
Life changes, but Welwyn
Garden City remains Sir
Nick Faldo’s home golf
club.
Faldo with club professional
Shaun Collins in 2021 when
WGC hosted a Faldo Series
event
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CHAPTER EIGHT
Nick Faldo versus Gary Player
The big match: Player’s schoolboy caddie Bobby Mitchell offers some advice as Faldo looks on
Two helicopters hovered into view above Welwyn Garden City Golf Club
on a warm early July afternoon in 1978. They signalled that the club and its
members were about to witness one of the most significant days in its histo-
ry. Having held a pre-match press conference at the RAC Club in London,
prodigal son Nick Faldo and South African golfing great Gary Player landed
safely adjacent to the first fairway.
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Out stepped Player, winner of nine major championships, the last com-
ing three months earlier when, at the age of 42, he shot a final-round 64 at
Augusta to sweep through the field and secure his third Masters. Faldo was
21, barely two years into his professional career and nine years away from
the first of his six majors. However, a year before he had claimed the scalp
of Tom Watson in the Ryder Cup and was therefore intimidated by no one.
This was a head-to-head, winner-takes-all match for £5,000 (the equiva-
lent of £32,000 today). It was clearly a pay cheque worth getting out of bed
for. Or even a helicopter.
The sponsors were Playright Golf Mirrors, marketeers of a foot-high re-
flector in which a golfer could see his or her entire body. The sponsors
hoped the mirror would become a must-have mobile training aid, sitting
at the feet of a golfer while displaying a full reflection of their swing. The
technology was an adaption of the traditional Hall of Mirrors fairground
attraction in which concave and convex reflective glass turned people into
monstrously contorted figures; for many golfers, however, a reflection of
their swing would be a far more horrific sight. The Playright mirror was not
a revolutionary success, but adaptions of the idea remain available today.
Player had flown into London from Johannesburg on the morning of the
match. Before the action started he snatched an hour’s sleep at the home of
club captain David Whalley. Player awoke to play a bizarre one-hole celeb-
rity pro-am with guests Colin Reid, a high-profile Daily Mail columnist,
and the 1966 World Cup football commentator Kenneth (‘they think it’s
all over’) Wolstenholme. For one spectator it very nearly was all over when
Reid drilled his drive 10 yards left, sending the gallery on the first tee scur-
rying. Thankfully everyone survived to enjoy a 30-minute coaching clinic
from Player when the hole was completed.
In the main event Faldo was imperious. With his WGC Golf Club friend
John Moorhouse carrying his bag, he shot a six-under-par 65 to crush
Player, who signed for a two-under 69. Player’s caddie was 15-year-old
schoolboy Bobby Mitchell, now the professional at South Herts. The son of
WGC members Brian and Betty Mitchell, who lived adjacent to the course,
Mitchell had taken a day off school to help Player.
“The crowd absolutely loved Gary and people still talk to me about him
today,” recalled Mitchell. “I have to say, though, that he didn’t show too
much affection for me! I was just a schoolboy, but he treated me as if I was
his professional tournament caddie. Put it this way, he firmly made his point
if he thought he had been misinformed. But that underlines what a fantastic
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